CNR ExploRA

Articolo in rivista, 2020, ENG, 10.1111/cea.13793

Digital health interventions in children with asthma

Giuliana Ferrante; Amelia Licari; Gian Luigi Marseglia; Stefania La Grutta;

1Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. 2Department of Pediatrics, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 3Institute for Research and Biomedical Innovation (IRIB), National Research Council (CNR), Palermo, Italy.

Although healthcare providers are actively involved in offering education, information, and interventions for asthmatic patients, medication and therapeutic adherence remain low in the pediatric population, with estimates suggesting that adherence rates hover below 50%. A range of available digital health interventions has been explored in pediatric asthma with promising but variable results, limiting their widespread adoption in clinical practice. They include emerging technologies that yield the advantage of tracking asthma symptoms and medications, setting drug reminders, improving inhaler technique, and delivering asthma education, such as serious games (video games designed for medical or health-related purposes), electronic monitoring devices, speech recognition calls, text messaging, mobile apps, and interactive websites. Some of the proposed digital interventions have used multiple components, including educational and behavioral strategies and interactions with medical professionals. Overall, the implementation of such interventions may offer the opportunity to improve adherence and asthma control. In a state of emergency as the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine can also play a central role in supporting physicians in managing children with asthma. This review evaluates the published literature examining digital health interventions for pediatric asthma and explores the most relevant issues affecting their implementation in practice and the associated evidence gaps, research limitations, and future research perspectives.

Clinical & experimental allergy (Online)